The Drow

Culture
The Drow [pronounced like "cow", "how", "now", NOT like "crow"] are a subrace of Elves that used to live in the sunlit lands of the Surface Realm of Faerun. After the great war amongst the elves, the drow were forced underground in what is known as the Underdark, a vast system of caverns and tunnels spanning much of the continent. The drow have since built cities across the Underdark, becoming one of the most powerful races therein. They share their homeland with various races, and none of them trust each other. A few of the more powerful races with footholds in the Underdark are the Svirfneblin or Deep Gnomes, the Duergar or Gray Dwarves, and the Gloamings, humanoids that barely reach two and a half feet tall with large, furry wings and luminescent skin. Oftentimes, the Drow imprison these [in their eyes] lesser races and use them to their advantage as slaves for work, craftsmanship, or other devices that you can think of. The males of Drow society are oftentimes treated little better than these slaves of varying races, seen as inferior in the eyes of Lolth, their Goddess.


Religion
Most of the Drow in the Underdark worship the Queen of Spiders, Lolth (or Lloth, depending on the dialect). Lolth condones acts such as treason, murder, thievery, upheaval, or other forms of utter chaos. She does not seek to further her people, the Drow, like more rational, reasonable deities in Faerun's Pantheon of Gods. Technically, Lolth is not a Goddess at all - she's a very powerful demon with God-like powers.
Only females of the societies who worship her are allowed to become acolytes of the Goddess, as males are prejudiced against as a sex. They are only allowed to obtain ranks as warriors or wizards. The highest rank a male can achieve is very very conditional. The highest rank of status that a male can achieve is the Archmage of the city and the First son of the First Noble House of the city. This rank merits some respect from lesser females, but is ordered the respect of every single male in the city - especially the mages, as they all answer to the Archmage.
The worship of Lolth is conducted through ritual, sacrifices, and sometimes the bae'queshel songs, though the Spider Queen has little use for music or dance. She encourages chaos, self-indulgence, back-stabbing, pure malice, hatred, and open dishonesty amongst her faithful. Spiders are revered as sacred creatures and should never be crushed intentionally, as it is considered blasphemous. A blasphemous gesture to the Dark Mother would be twisting your hand palm-up towards the sky and curling your fingers inward, signifying a dead spider.


Major Drow Cities in the Underdark
Abaethaggar
Abburth
Baereghel
Charrvhel'raugaust
Chaulssin (Ruined Drow city)
Ched Nasad (Ruined Drow city)
Cheth Rrhinn
Erelhei-Cinlu
Eryndlyn
Faneadar
Guallidurth
Haundrauth
Ithilaughym
Llurth Dreier
Luihaulen'tar
Maerimydra
Menzoberranzan
Orlytlar
Sschindylryn
Sshamath
Sshanntynlan
Szithlin
T'lindhet
Tyrybblyn
Uluitur
Undraeth
V'elddrinnsshar
Waethe Hlammachar
Yuethindrynn